


Note to Self: Build Thicker Walls

by 1helluvabutler



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 04:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4086898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1helluvabutler/pseuds/1helluvabutler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A RinHaru fic from the landlord's point of view</p>
            </blockquote>





	Note to Self: Build Thicker Walls

**Author's Note:**

> i hate writing for 6 hours straight but i needed to finish this
> 
> for cecil!!!

When Wakamatsu first read the apartment deeds, he raised a questioning eyebrow as he looked back up, up, _up_ at the sheepish pair in front of him. Not being very tall himself, it wasn't unusual for most people to have a few inches on him; these two however, towered at least a whole foot above his head, causing Wakamatsu to instinctively stretch himself straighter in a slim hope to gain back a bit of height. A pointless effort, but it still made him feel a bit better.

 

Two weeks ago, the couple had first introduced themselves to Wakamatsu as Makoto and Sousuke Yamazaki. They seemed interested enough in the place, enough to come back twice for extra tours. Naturally, the landlord had thought they were looking for an apartment for themselves. This was his first mistake.

The names now written on the ownership papers did _not_ read Makoto and Sousuke Yamazaki. Instead, the two names scratched onto the paper in blue ink spelled out a different co-ownership: Rin and Haruka Matsuoka.

 _Sisters,_ Wakamatsu had mused to himself, before glancing at the couple in front of him, _or wives_. Either way was fine, he didn't really care who was living in that apartment as long as they payed their bills and didn't completely destroy the place.

The (slightly) shorter of the two, Yamazaki Makoto, scratched his head as he explained to Wakamatsu's curious question that, no, the apartment wasn't _for_ themselves, but it was being bought _by_ them for two of their friends. As a present.

"They're traveling a lot at the moment, so they might not actually be staying here that much in the near future," Makoto continued. "But they can't keep staying at our place every time they come back to this city. Everyone needs to settle down eventually, right?"

"Their training schedule clashes a bit too much with our lifestyle, so we're buying them their own place," Sousuke added from the side, finally deciding to give his own opinion of the situation. "Rin's a professional swimmer and Haru, I mean Haruka, sometimes joins in," he clarified Wakamatsu's question of "Training schedule?"

"Ah", he answered, not entirely sure what kind of training pro swimmers did. Turning around to pick up his cup of coffee, Wakamatsu's ears were just sharp enough to hear a mumble of _'especially their nighttime training',_ followed by a soft _thud_ and _'oompf'_ as the speaker had supposedly been elbowed in the stomach. He hid his amused smile behind the rim of the mug as the taller Yamazaki dropped the hand rubbing the sore spot on his waist to his side; his husband gave an awkward cough.

 

Sitting down at the table, Wakamatsu's pen twirled around his fingers as he read and re-read the papers. Technically, everything about the deal was legal, the nights spent awake and making phone calls to all kinds of agents and lawyers weren't exactly wasted to find out nothing. _Oh what the hell._ His fingers spun the pen one last time and signed the papers in the required places. The four-room apartment directly above his own now belonged to the Matsuokas.

"You can tell your friends that they now have their own home."

* * *

 

The Matsuokas were currently in France for the next two weeks, courtesy of Rin's competition, Makoto had informed the landlord. Exactly two weeks later, the Yamazakis called to tell Wakamatsu Rin and Haruka were back and eager to get their keys from him.

"Of course," he had said, immediately digging them out from one of his kitchen drawers. Two hours later, a ring of the doorbell forced him to abandon his cup of coffee on the table and rush downstairs to let the building's newest residents in.

* * *

 

When Wakamatsu had first read the names Rin and Haruka Matsuoka on the apartment deeds, he had assumed two different possibilities from their names - that they were either relatives, or wives. Now looking at the two standing behind the door, Wakamatsu immediately had to reconsider a few things about them.

Rin and Haruka Matsuoka definitely did not look like they were related by blood. The red hair on one contrasted the other's black nicely, as did the sun-kissed skin and toned bodies. They definitely weren't wives either. In fact, neither of them was even female.

The redhead introduced himself to a stunned Wakamatsu as Rin. Blurting out a reply introduction, the landlord took a moment to assess the flash of unnaturally sharp-looking teeth and an excited shine in the maroon eyes. Haruka introduced himself with a polite nod of his head and a slight, but quiet air of eagerness surrounding him as they followed the landlord up the stairs to his apartment.

Identical golden rings glistened on their fingers; Rin's clinked against the apartment keys Wakamatsu handed to him as he bounced them in his hand a few times. Haruka's smile was a mere fraction of Rin's happy beaming, yet Wakamatsu could see it meant as much as getting the apartment to the redheaded Matsuoka, maybe even more.

A polite cough from the landlord brought the two back from whatever different plane of existence they had been roaming around on. Rin gave him a sheepish smile and together with his husband, gave one more bow and 'Thank you' to Wakamatsu before backing out of his door and up the stairwell to their own.

Wakamatsu smiled to himself as he picked up his forgotten cup of coffee. These two seemed to be an interesting pair.

* * *

 

The next morning brought a pick-up truck with its back piled up to seemingly unrealistic heights with furniture; from the front and an additional car filed out a total of six people. Wakamatsu recognised two as the Yamazakis who had done the actual buying of the apartment, followed by the apartment owners themselves, but the third pair, a small blond man dragging behind him a hectic-looking companion who was complaining loudly about losing his glasses, was unknown to him.

The landlord watched the short stranger let go of his still-complaining companion to clamber up the mountain of interior decorations, miraculously without toppling the entire thing. Once at the top, he started handing the topmost things to the waiting hands of the others below. Wakamatsu watched the taller Yamazaki assist his husband in dragging a closet off the truck; watched the stranger rush forward with a suitcase in his clutch and open the downstairs door for them; listened to the closet being carried up the stairs with heavy footsteps and muffled swears; heard a high-pitched voice encourage them to go just a tiiiny bit further; a heavily muffled bang, followed by a shrill shriek and angry curses as the closet was set down on someone's (by the sound of it) foot.

Wakamatsu's eyes followed the worryingly loud scratching noises as something heavy (presumably the same closet) was dragged across the upstairs apartment's floor. Sure, the ceiling/floor was built thick enough to hold whatever everyday furniture the residents were sure to bring in, but something told him that might not be the case if they dropped the heavy objects. A closet body-slammed through the ceiling would normally be funny, but not if it was Wakamatsu's own ceiling.

* * *

 

It seemed like somebody had listened to his prayers after all, since the ceiling held until the end of the moving process. Now he just had to worry about it staying there for the rest of the Matsuokas' stay, however long that would be.

Wakamatsu listened to the footsteps and soft conversation in the stairwell go past his door and down. Someone was complaining about their back. Someone was complaining about losing their glasses. Someone was complaining about other people complaining. The bottom door closed with its distinctive snap and the murmur of voices was lost. Two pairs of feet made their way back up the stairs again, one person sighing loud enough for even Wakamatsu to hear. _''Remind me to never ever_ ever _give Nagisa coffee again before inviting him to do something with us.''_

* * *

 

Oh.

Oh wow.

Oh _wow,_ Rin sure had lungs.

 

Wakamatsu gave his room an awkward once-over, searching for one of his numerous pairs of headphones, or earplugs, since his radio/music player had been borrowed by his girlfriend. Finding neither was the reason he was now standing at the counter of the convenience store down the street, basket full of the foamy noise-blockers and vodka. The clerk said nothing, just threw him a sympathetic look and rung up his items.

* * *

 

Rin went running in the mornings. Wakamatsu could usually see him return through the window before he headed to work; flushed, but ready to go be a productive member of society, unlike his black-haired husband who sometimes accompanied his runs and looked ready to drop dead afterwards. Besides the obviously-not-a-morning-person Haruka, Rin also occasionally ran with the taller Yamazaki (Wakamatsu had forgotten his first name), or a short silver-haired guy whose squeaky voice reached all the way up to his apartment when the trio laughed over something. The others never accompanied Rin back inside after a running session; maybe they didn't to intrude, maybe they wanted to go to their own homes and take showers.

One of the stairs in the stairwell was slightly higher than the others, just a short way from Wakamatsu's front door; he could hear Rin trip over it every single time he went upstairs after his morning run. Curiously enough, Wakamatsu had never heard the redhead stumble over the stair any other time, just always in the mornings. If he happened to be awake and at home, the landlord could also hear the way Rin's footsteps moved around the apartment above him; a full ten minutes of thumping and shuffling later, running water could be heard. A second pair of footsteps usually started sounding around the time the upstairs bath or shower was being used; these steps sounded usually lighter and more careful and stopped after a short while. Wakamatsu supposed the definitely-not-a-morning-person Haruka either sat down somewhere or went back to bed. Or joined his husband in the shower. Who knows.

* * *

 

The couple had guests over at times; sometimes it was the Yamazakis who had made a habit of stopping by Wakamatsu's place with a small confectionery almost every time they visited the Matsuokas, sometimes it was the other two who had helped with the move-in, the small excitable blond man and his companion who had apparently found his glasses. Whenever the latter visited, a lot more shrieking could be heard from upstairs than usual, often accompanied by a _"NAGISA **NO!".**_

 

The Matsuokas had other visitors as well. A girl with hair the same shade as Rin's showed up at the building about once a month, sometimes accompanied by her fiery-haired companion (Wakamatsu assumed they were together by the way she would entwine her fingers with his as they walked towards the door and kiss him lightly while they waited for the Matsuokas to answer the doorbell).

 

Another redhead had a habit of showing up in early mornings unannounced just to drag them out of the apartment, judging by the amount of swearing and shouts of 'get up' occasionally waking Wakamatsu. Or maybe the Matsuokas were just having angry morning sex. Not much difference to him, considering it was noisy either way.

The few times when the landlord was actually home as the same time the visitor, he had to dig into his stock of earplugs if he needed to concentrate on his current work. The man had a LOUD speaking voice, almost loud enough for Wakamatsu to feel like the man was in the room with him. Wakamatsu felt sorry for the people actually in the same room with him.

It wasn't like Wakamatsu had no visitors of his own; most if his friends had a habit if staying until the late hours of the night or even until the morning, it's just that he preferred to visit others instead ever since he discovered exactly how loud his upstairs neighbors were during their...nighttime activities. There was only a few things more awkward than turning up the volume almost to the point where it gave you a headache on whatever movie or song was going on, otherwise it would be constantly interrupted by a _there, right theaAGH YES._

Despite everything, a couple of his friends still showed up at his doorstep every weekend, demanding to be entertained. 'Loud hour' as it had been dubbed, was used as the perfect excuse for the (usually tipsy by now) party to grab earplugs from Wakamatsu's shelf and try to act out pantomime sketches in groups with the others guessing what was going on in the horribly depicted scene. When everyone had had enough of laughing and the noises from the topmost apartment still hadn't stopped, Wakamatsu and the others sometimes started placing bets on how much longer the shouts of _harder, harder, Haru, FUCK_ were to continue. (Wakamatsu was soon banned from this game due to constantly winning.)

* * *

 

Six months after the couple had moved into the apartment above Wakamatsu's, the Olympics happened. Rin Matsuoka as one of Japan's representatives in swimming, flew off to the other end of the world, bringing nothing but two suitcases of clothes and a picture of his husband; the real thing was left back home in Japan. Wakamatsu had woken up that morning to a loud bang and Rin's voice urging Haruka,''Come on, the taxi is here already!'' A quick look out of his window showed him the redhead running towards a white car waiting by the road, suitcase clutched in one hand, the other holding Haruka's. They clambered into the taxi accompanied by excited laughter, and drove off, destination: airport.

As Haruka grew more restless and fidgety each day closer to the Olympics, Wakamatsu found himself Google-ing the swimming events for the Olympics; Rin Matsuoka was listed as a participant for most, except for the 10km marathon and a couple of the shorter distances Wakamatsu couldn't recall later. A week later the landlord sat in front of his tv, biting his nails as he watched the familiar face zip though the water as if chased by something invisible.

The shout that came from upstairs when Rin touched the pool wall was something Wakamatsu was not expecting. He smiled at the ceiling and began picking up the spilled popcorn.

Wakamatsu congratulated him on the staircase later when they bumped into each other getting the mail; Haruka gave a small smile as he told Wakamatsu how long Rin had been training for the Olympics. _He loves him so much._

The thought repeated itself again as Wakamatsu watched the taxi pull up outside of the house, letting out a tired, but happy looking Rin Matsuoka who immediately got tackled by his husband in a hug so aggressive, they both got knocked to the pavement. The view from his window wasn't ideal, but it was enough to make out Rin burying his face in Haruka's hair as he hugged him close, entangling their legs on the ground. The two only broke apart, red-faced and bashful, after an awkward cough from the taxi driver who had taken the time to unload Rin's suitcases (now accompanied by a second one) from the trunk. After paying the fare, the two entwined their hands and dragged the luggage behind them as they walked.

 

Having a camera crew arrive mere minutes after the couple had gone inside was also something Wakamatsu was not expecting. It took three hours and Wakamatsu's threat to call the police for the flashing lights and questions behind the window to die down; the Matsuokas immediately took the chance to go buy food without being currently followed.

Their friends arrived soon after delicious smells started emitting from the upstairs apartment. Wakamatsu listened to the excited congratulations and chatter; if he heard correctly, the visitors seemed to be equally impressed by the athlete's victories as well as the other's cooking. A strange comparison in his idea. A while later, one of the Yamazakis (the shorter one) showed up at his door with an extended invitation to join them for the party; Wakamatsu politely refused, he felt like he shouldn't intrude something like that. So when the Yamazaki reappeared on his door with a plateful of food, saying that the hosts insisted, the landlord was more than surprised. Grateful, yes, but surprised.

Eating it, however, Wakamatsu understood instantly why the people upstairs were comparing the food to the Olympic wins. He had never tasted anything like this before. Wakamatsu made a mental note to definitely visit Haruka's restaurant sometime.

The party slowly fizzled out at about 1AM, sober people escorting (carrying in one case; Wakamatsu was pretty sure the one being carried bridal-style wasn't actually drunk enough to need carrying, just insisted on being carried like that) their drunk companions out of the door and into the night; Wakamatsu had a feeling the 'party' between the upstairs two would last for some more, though. He listened to the footsteps and running water upstairs and sighed.

 

Wakamatsu was really going to need some new earplugs.

**Author's Note:**

> idk it's been so long since i wrote i'm s orry
> 
> time-to-change-away on tumblr


End file.
